Non-fiction for the general reader. Anecdotal rather than analytical, but good for capturing the flavor of the city and the times.

Asbury. Gem of the Prairie. (1940) A century of Chicago crime stories. From the author of “The Gangs of New York.”

Berkow. Maxwell Street. (1977) Oral history of the dearly-departed bazaar and the surrounding neighborhood.

Drury. Chicago in Seven Days. (1930) A guide book for “people in a hurry.” Covers all sections of the city, as they were eighty-plus years ago. Superior to the more-famous “WPA Guide” of a few years later.

Larson. The Devil in the White City. (2003) Engrossing blend of historical fact and speculative fiction about an 1893 serial killer. Not to be missed!

Poole. Giants Gone. (1943) The first novelist to win a Pulitzer Prize writes about twenty Chicago movers-and-shakers, many of whom he knew personally.

Royko. For the Love of Mike. (2001) Posthumous collection drawn from 30-plus years of newspaper columns, just one of nine Royko anthologies. All of them are priceless.

Schmidt. On This Day in Chicago History. (2014) My newest Chicago book—366 short pieces about the city, one for each day of the year. Buy several for your friends and Chicago expats.

Schmidt. The Bowling Chronicles. (2017) A collection of 90 articles and feature stories I wrote for “Bowlers Journal” over the course of 27 years. OK, it’s not a Chicago book—but I’m plugging it here, anyway!

Grossman et al. The Encyclopedia of Chicago. (2004) The title says it all. Everything you ever wanted to know about the city and the ‘burbs in 1117 pages—including my own piece on Park Ridge.

Mayer & Wade. Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis. (1969) How a frontier outpost grew into a world-class city. Concentrates on physical development—buildings, bridges, parks, and so on. Over 1,000 pictures and 50 maps.

Pacyga. Chicago: A Biography. (2009) Well-written history of our favorite city in a single volume.

Pierce. A History of Chicago. 3 vols (1937, 1940, 1957) The most thorough scholarly study of the city’s early years—it ends with the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The author died while working on a fourth volume. Will anyone ever attempt to continue her work?

Schmidt. The Mayor Who Cleaned Up Chicago. (1989) This is my own book about William E. Dever. Looking back, I would have done a few things differently. But it’s a lot harder to change a book than it is to change a blog.

FICTION

Novels based in Chicago.

Dreiser. Sister Carrie. (1900) Wisconsin farm girl comes to the city and gets corrupted. Because of its themes, parts of the book were cut on publication. The 1997 “unexpurgated” version is the one to get.

Farrell. Young Lonigan. (1932) Growing up poor and Irish on the South Side. Not to everyone’s taste. If you like this one, there are two subsequent books in the Lonigan trilogy.

I just found your web site. I grew up at 8855 S. Laflin. Grammar school at St.Ethelredas’ and CVS for high school. Your photos are fantastic and I thank you for allowing to view them. I turn 80 in June.